Pastor’s Thoughts – Autumn 2022

Dear friends,

Autumn always seems to mark the beginning of the church year. I guess that it is to do with the start of a new academic term. Hopefully you have had a good summer break and are ready for what lies ahead. But what does lie ahead?

As a Church we exist to put into practice God’s will as He has revealed it to us. He has made His will clear to us all and Jesus explains this in John 3:16-17:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

We seek to be wholehearted disciples that live out God’s plan to save the world. We do this in great humility. Whilst we want to show people Jesus’ life in us we don’t believe that we are anything like perfect. Rather we know that if Jesus can use us He can use anyone. If Jesus can give us life, He can give it to anyone. So we rejoice at the privilege of being God’s children but we don’t want people to think that we’ve deserved that. We know Jesus loves everyone the same.

Our plan had been to begin this session with the official opening of The Bridge on 17th September. Sadly due to technical issues we have still not had the building handed over to us. We have moved the opening to 26th November, which is the Church Anniversary weekend, and full details of that will follow.

As preparation for this session and as preparation for the opening, we had planned to hold a week of prayer leading up to the 17th September. I cannot emphasise enough how important prayer is for us. We need each of us to commit to prayer for all that we are doing. Without prayer, we can accomplish nothing of value. Jesus said:

‘Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

‘Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.’

Matthew 18:18-20

Paul reminds us:

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Ephesians 6:18

Prayer cannot be put off for another day so we will be going ahead with the Week of Prayer almost as planned, beginning on Sunday 11th September. We will be providing materials to help you as you bring to the Lord the life and service of the church.

Here is the timetable for the week:

Sunday 11th September — 18.30 Prayer Service

We will gather for a service of worship that will focus on prayer picking up the main themes that we want to explore

Monday 12th September — Day of Fasting

Fasting is not necessarily about going without food. It is setting aside some of the things we take for granted to focus more on listening to the Lord. You may want to fast from your phone or television, or anything else that has become your focus.

Tuesday 13th September — 19.30 Prayer Zoom

An opportunity to join together wherever you are with God’s people so that we can pray.

Wednesday 14th September — 09.00 – 21.00 Chapel Prayers

This is the bit that has changed. If we have been given control of The Bridge, then we will use the Chapel, but if not, we’ll use the Worship Area.

We want you to sign up in your groups to come and pray together. So, for example, if you are in the tech team on a Sunday, sign up for a time to pray for each other and your ministry. If you are in the stewarding team, or the café team, or Sunday Club, or the Toddlers and Co team – whatever team you are in – come together and pray.

There will be a sign-up sheet for this.

Thursday 15th September — 19.30 Prayer Zoom

As on Tuesday, an opportunity for us to come together.

Friday 16th September — 06.00 24 hours of prayer

We close the week by taking a whole day and dividing it up into timeslots. Sign up for 1 hour or for 30 minutes, or however long you would like. We want to see the 24-hour period covered in prayer.

Does this sound like a challenge? It is. I cannot emphasise enough how important this is for us though. We need to demonstrate to the Lord that we are serious about being here to serve Him. That we are serious about the task that he has entrusted to us. We want to see people’s lives changed. We want to see this part of Herts and Essex changed. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to enable that to happen. We do not have the power to do it but He does.

Please think about how you can be involved and put these dates in your diary.

Yours in Christ,
John